


Untitled (For Now)

by Reuben_Aloway



Category: Tales of Arcadia (Cartoons)
Genre: Gen, Other, Spoilers, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-08
Updated: 2020-08-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:02:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25787782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reuben_Aloway/pseuds/Reuben_Aloway
Summary: When an unknown, powerful force drags Jim Lake Jr and Douxie into a collapsing realm their only method of escape sees them split up and may end up changing everything they thought they knew. With the Arcane Order still around and old foes ressurected, not to mention an unknown enity that wants to destroy the world, it'll be up to Jim and Douxie to try and save everyone, though with history now unwritten that could be easier said than done.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 49





	Untitled (For Now)

**Author's Note:**

> For those who've read my other work Trolls vs. Wizards, that is still being written, Wizards has changed a few things particulalry in relation to Douxie but it's opened up so many more avenues, so...yeah there will be a definite sequel for that one, this just wouldn't leave me alone until I started writing and it got in the way so I'm posting another fic before I've even finished my first. This fic will contain spoilers for Wizards, I'll try and keep them as vague as possible but it's time travel some will be overt so you have been warned.

Noise and darkness, that was all Jim could see and hear as he stumbled down what felt like a hospital corridor, his skinny legs and arms scrambling for balance as he struggled to stay upright in the shuddering space desperately ignoring the lack of actual ground.

A hand grabbed him, spinning him into a more stone-like corridor arms moving into a battle stance despite the lack of Daylight even as his legs twisted and stumbled forcing him to collapse to the ground as an almighty shudder rocked the place, his own reflexes betraying him, his body too small to what he was used to.

“Careful there mate. Wouldn’t want to lose your head,”

“Douxie?” Jim gladly too the offered hand as a blue glow illuminated the face of the ‘young’ Wizard.

“In the flesh…..in a manner of speaking,” the older teen shuffled until he was crouched against a vague outline of a corner, eyes darting every which way as the shakes and shudders continued.

“Where are we?” Jim joined him in cover.

“I have no idea. Not the mortal realm that’s for sure – Look Out!” Jim felt himself being dragged away as a ball of fire crashed into their hiding place, its bright glow revealing ancient stone stone walls covered in plant life before the flames washed over it leaving only dark stains.

The two heroes ran.

“At least tell me you have a plan?” Jim yelled as he followed.

“If I did I’d be lying,”

“How did you get here?”

“I’m not sure, one moments I’m protecting Nari, the next I’m here and being attacked. I don’t know if it’s the Order or something else but I’m pretty sure it’s got something to do with the seals,”

“Certainly sounds like the Order-” an almighty tremor sent the two flying down a sudden drop, crashing uncomfortably against something that felt like a wall tilted at an alarming angle.

“I don’t remember the Order having this kind of power,” Douxie groaned as he untangled himself from the younger teen. The shaking seemed to die down, though neither dropped their guard.

“This would be easier if I had the amulet,” Jim groaned, his body still not used to how light he felt.

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that. Physically we aren’t actually here, just our souls, and unless you can summon a magical artefact destroyed by the Arcane Order it wouldn’t help much,”

“Wait, waist. You mean we’re not actually here? None of this is real?”

“Oh, it’s real alright, only difference is, instead of dying, your soul gets destroyed,”

“I though you didn’t know where we are,”

“I don’t, it’s astral projection one-oh-one, is someone’s killed outside their body their soul gets destroyed rather than move on,”

“Really?”

“No, but it is a risk in some planes so...better safe than sorry,”

“Very reassuring,” Jim patted himself off and took a few steps to try and get a better feel for the invisible place, stopping dead in his tracks a gleam caught his eye.

“We’re stuck in a strange realm and under attack by who knows what and you want reassur-” Douxie nearly bit his tongue as he bumped into Jim, “What-?”

“look. Is that….?” the young wizard’s eye followed Jim’s finger as the former TrollHunter trailed off.

Douxie strained his eyes until a flicker of green and gold flashed in the darkness, quickly followed by a rocky clearing surrounded by trees, “Excalibur?”

“It’s not just me then?”

Douxie stretched out his magical senses as he stared at the famous sword, still buried in stone.

“It’s real all right. Our situation just got worse,”

“Worse? How? I get it’s King Arthur’s sword but….”

“Excalibur is more than just a sword. It’s Enchanted for one, but it’s also a symbol, a joining of the World of Magic with the World of Man, its full power can only be wielded by one who is worthy but that’s not always a guarantee,”

A tremor, stronger than any they’d felt before shook the realm, quickly followed by bursts of light and power. The pair looked up to see cracks forming in a non-existent ceiling.

“This realm’s falling apart, we’ve got to go,” a blue glow came from his wristbound amulet, a staff forming in his hands before shifting in a guitar.

“What about the sword?”

“Its a powerful, magical object it’ll be fine,” Douxie quickly started chanting, symbols weaving into existence around him before he sent them flying, a burst of blue fire illuminating the darkness and revealing things they wished had remained hidden.

The meadow and corridors were gone, floating instead in the distance were floating orbs, each one coming into sharp relief as they gazed into the darkness, each one looking uncomfortably like…

“...Worlds,” As Jim and Douxie stared, each orb appeared in crystal clarity despite their distance, every detail visible. Oceans, continents, clouds, even tiny objects like ships or planes could be seen. All of them were different save for one thing. A creeping darkness spreading over them, fire, screams and death echoing outwards were the darkness met light.

On one the darkness appeared as a flood drowning everything in its inky depths until nothing but a lifeless rock was left. On another the darkness spread from a giant sword plunged into the ground piercing both heaven and earth as demons and monsters spread outwards consuming everything in their path. Yet another appeared to be covered in a dark web, the destruction spreading out like a carefully conducted orchestra. Each orb, each World, met its end, some becoming little more than lifeless rocks, others less than dust. One world showed a mutilated body consuming it before turning it into some kind of ship to spread its misery.

Eyes, warlords, monsters, disasters, all of them kept flashing before their eyes as each world met its end until the light from the flames faded, the source dissolving into a portal, the meadow fading into existence around Excalibur once again, though its shadows seemed longer, darker. A burst of golden light a feeling of madness washed against them as the disintegrating reality reasserted itself.

“Go,” Jim turned to Douxie, surprised but not shocked to his guitar had become a staff once again, though its glow did nothing to war off the increasing sound of of roars and screams, or the sense of dread creeping up on them.

“What?”

“Go, I’ll hold off whatever’s coming,”

“I’m not leaving you alone to face those….whatever’s after us,”

“I don’t know where that portal will take you, or even when, but if what we just saw is any indication we can’t let anyone follow us and destroy our world,”

“We don’t know even know what it is and you-”

“No.” something must’ve been in his tone or perhaps his eyes as Jim’s mouth closed with an audible click, “I don’t know what brought us here or why but I know you are important. You brought two worlds together, you have been human and troll, you’ve been through more than even me and I’m over 900 years old, you have to escape,”

“What about your soul?”

“That’s why I’m giving you this,” Douxie held out his taff.

“Your staff? Why?”

“A Wizard’s staff is more than a tool, it’s an extension of themselves. If this works, you can return it to me or Merlin, but you have to get out of here,” the sound of shattering glass echoed around them, the feeling of dread quickly morphing into one or terror.

“Whatever you see or hear, don’t look back, and always hold onto who you are,”

“Douxie….” Jim let the staff fall into his hands, its light shimmering as it shrank until only its crystal remained.

“Go!” a burst of light blinded him as something impacted Douxie’s hastily erected shield ward.

Blinking, Jim ran, scrambling to stay up as explosions, roars and screams grew louder, the space between Jim and the portal twisting and warping as if this place didn’t want him to leave…..  
“You are mine Beast!” Jim narrowly avoided a blast of yellow light.

The ominous figure of the Green Knight materialised in front of him, stepping out of the shadows, sword poised menacingly at him.

His time as a full Troll was hazy, his mind blank save for rage and then….nothing, until Claire had freed his mind only to die as his injuries and the light took their toll, but he remembered the Knight.

“I’m not yours, I never was!”

“You would take arms against your King?” the Knight growled as he raised his blade, a shapeless thing that spoke only of death and destruction.

Jim felt his body...flicker, his human form disappearing for a moment as something large flashed into existence, a desperate strength filling his body.

“You are not my king!” something appeared in his hand, a familiar weight, invisible but there, Daylight?

A scream from Douxie interrupted the two figures as he was blasted back by green light.

“Don’t ‘But Master’ me,”

That couldn’t be...Merlin stood there imperiously, the Staff of Avalon, whole, intact, in his hand, Douxie wobbling as he tried to stand.

“Don’t take your eyes off your opponent!” it was only reflex that brought Daylight up to block the Knight’s blow, the impact crippling his knees.

“You belong to me,” the Knight growled.

Jim felt his form flicker again, this time with the mind numbing haze he feared, his hands going limp as Daylight faded from his grip.

“Don’t listen to him, he’s not real!” Douxie yelled as he resumed his fight against Merlin, Jim joining him as he dodged the Knight’s next strike, nimble dancing around the sudden surge of nothingness as the realm collapsed even further.

“This place if bringing our fears to life, it’s trying to stop us leaving,” neither could ignore the violent pulsing as the portal grew unstable, the growing screams and shattering glass seeming to dominate everything, for some reason it reminded Jim of Steve.

“And if we can’t?”

“We disappear with this realm,”

Jim looked at the fake Merlin and Knight, both readying themselves for their next attacks, oblivious or just ignoring the collapsing space around them as magic ran rampant.

“We need an edge,” Jim murmured, his mind flashing back to the last time they’d fought, rage and fury filling him.

“Jim?” Douxie dodge a blast from merlin only to stare in shock as it hit an airborne Green Knight, the large figure having been bodily thrown by the much larger figure of an angry “Jim?!”

“We need to get out of here!” Jim’s growl echoed in the empty air, snapping Douxie out of his shock in time to avoid the pair’s renewed attack. 

The two teens stood, back to back, ready to move as soon as there was an opening.

“I’ve got an idea,” Jim did not like Douxie’s tone, “If this works find me, if you can’t, find Charlemagne, tell him Archie’s Familiar sent you, my amulet can help,”

“Your Amulet-” Jim barely got to start his question as the fakes attacked, just as Douxie summoned a glowing symbol, slamming it against the ground.

Jim couldn’t begin to describe the force that hit him as it sent his body flying. It seemed to be the last straw for the empty realm as large swathes of nothingness filled his vision until he collided with the portal.   
It hurt, the sheer amount of power and magic assaulted him, his own nightmares dragged forward as roars, screams and cries bombarded his ears drowning everything out even his own voice as he tried to hold onto what Douxie had said, hold on to who you are.

It was his last conscious though as everything faded into black.

**Author's Note:**

> Not entirely happy with it but hopefully it'll only get better. It's a shame Wizards was a short series, but apparently it's essentially a segue into a movie, Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans. Considering how it ended I can well believe that and looking forward to its release next year.


End file.
